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Gearbox Sues 3D Realms And Interceptor Over Newly Announced Duke Nukem Title

S

Spoo

Member
I'm a pretty big fan of DN, and no fan of Gearbox, but on this -- considering the details I know or understand -- I can't really side with 3D Realms/Interceptor on this. Up until now I had assumed this new DN game was produced by Gearbox, or they had special permission from Gearbox to do it.

If they don't, they shouldn't, and Gearbox has every right to lay claim to their own property.
 
J

Jedi2016

Member
Xater said:
Even if you don't like Gearbox they are totally in the right here.
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This. I have no love for Gearbox either after A:CM, but I can't deny their right to protect their own property.

Actually reading the lawsuit, I see that it's 3DR that's the real dick here. They're not the ones making the game, but they licensed Interceptor to do so... they sold a license they didn't even own. And even after admitting the fault, the game is still under full development. That's why Gearbox is so pissed. They're trying to stop the game's release and recoup the losses from 3DR's "sale" of Gearbox's license, along with punitive damages.

What's 3D Realms up to these days? Can they even survive a lawsuit like this?
 
F

FStop7

Banned
I don't understand why anyone would be upset with Gearbox. An iso RPG of Duke sounds sort of interesting but if 3D Realms doesn't own the rights any more then it's ridiculous for them to have made that deal.
 
J

jim-jam bongs

Member
HiddenWings said:
DNF and Aliens: Colonial Marines are apparently enough to make everyone forget about everything else the company has done.
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Hey, they made a pretty good Half-Life expansion a couple of decades ago. Since then they've made mediocre and utterly forgettable games, while Randy told the press and fans lie after lie with zero shame.
 
R

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
I can't believe 3D Realms tried making this game without a license. I feel bad for Interceptor, I doubt they would have even bothered to ask because there's no way someone would be dumb enough to have them make a game without the license to the IP.
 
A

AcceptableGhost

Member
3DRealms had a pretty good run with licensing their older stuff out (ROTT and Shadow Warrior), why the fuck would they destroy themselves by doing this? I have to assume they knew they couldn't make a new Duke game right?
 
E

epmode

Member
How in the hell did this happen? When I heard that the Shadow Warrior reboot devs were on Duke Nukem, I never in a million years would have guessed that they didn't have the rights to make the game! 3D Realms is awful.
 
I

inky

Member
Lawsuit said:
Recently—and without consulting the Duke IP’s actual owner, Gearbox— Interceptor announced its intent to develop a Duke Nukem game based upon the various characters, content and intellectual property owned by Gearbox; the proposed game is entitled “Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction.” Apparently, after selling its Duke Nukem IP rights to Gearbox in 2010, 3DR sought to privately convince others that the sale never happened. The result is the unauthorized development effort that reportedly exists between 3DR and Interceptor.
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Why... why would you do this? How would you think this would work out favorably for you? In what universe do you think you can get away with this... Everyone knows they acquired the rights.

I don't understand.
 
A

ashecitism

Member
epmode said:
How in the hell did this happen? When I heard that the Shadow Warrior reboot devs were on Duke Nukem, I never in a million years would have guessed that they didn't have the rights to make the game! 3D Realms is awful.
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SW was made by Flying Wild Hog. Interceptor made Rise of the Triad.
 
H

Hubb

Member
HiddenWings said:
DNF and Aliens: Colonial Marines are apparently enough to make everyone forget about everything else the company has done.
Click to expand...

It isn't about what you've done, it's about what you are doing for me now. I don't know, the quote goes something like that.
 
Danny Dudekisser

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
inky said:
Why... why would you do this? How would you think this would work out favorably for you? In what universe do you think you can get away with this... Everyone knows they acquired the rights.

I don't understand.
Click to expand...

Presumably, 3DRealms thought they could convince people they sold Gearbox the rights to DNF rather than the entire franchise.


"No, guys, we sold you Duke Nukem Forever, not Duke Nukem, forever!"
 
R

RE_Player

Member
The blind rage some of you have for Gearbox is simultaneously funny and embarassing. So you bought a bad game you thought was going to be good. Cry me a river. Past mistakes don't make copyright law disappear.
 
V

Valnen

Member
Intheflorsh said:
So, 3D Realms actually acknowledged Gearbox owned the IP and apologized yet Gearbox sues anyways? What happened?
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Dragonzord said:
For the record, they're completely in their right to do this.

I just find it hilarious to see Gearbox having an issue with shady business dealings.
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They're in the legal right to, yeah. Doesn't mean I want to see it happen. If Black Isle was to rise from the dead and announce Baldurs Gate 3 I'd be pretty pissed even if they didn't have the legal right to make it. I don't really give a shit about who violated who s IP as a consumer, I just want my games to hit the market.
 
B

BigDug13

Member
Mister Chippy said:
They have a bit of a habit of taking old, well liked IPs and making really, really shitty games with them (see Duke Nukem Forever and Aliens: Colonial Marines).

Most people, however, only know them from Borderlands 2, which is actually a very good game.

Also currently people are worried about the Homeworld IP, an old and well liked IP that Gearbox bought after THQ shut down. They're track record really isn't the best.

Personally I like Anthony Burch and have since before he was part of them and I think that he'll probably be able to keep them from destroying any of the games he's working on, but the rest of the company I'm indifferent about.
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They bought Homeworld IP to give it back to the studio that created it who was working on a similar game as Homeworld without the name because THQ owned it. Gearbox bought it at auction and are now going to publish future Homeworld games made by the original team. Not sure how people can be "worried about the Homeworld IP" since this act was one of Randy Pitchford's better decisions in recent years IMO and allows the franchise to continue by its original creative talent instead of languishing with some other publisher trying to do something with it with another dev team.

And although they royally screwed up Aliens, it was not an established IP as you claim. Yes the Aliens license was used before, but this particular IP was not.
 
Z

Zaph

Member
Seems like a perfect example of someone figuring it's better to beg for forgiveness, than ask permission.

3DR probably figured once the game was public and fans were expecting it, it would force Gearbox to play nice rather than look like the bad guy.

Reading the lawsuit filing, this wouldn't be the first time 3DR tried something so brazen. Apparently they sued Gearbox for DNF royalties and quickly rescinded the lawsuit and publicly apologised.

Sounds like 3DR is run by complete fuckups.
 
J

jim-jam bongs

Member
Chacranajxy said:
"No, guys, we sold you Duke Nukem Forever, not Duke Nukem, forever!"
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mdt9Z.jpg
 
J

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
jim-jam bongs said:
Hey, they made a pretty good Half-Life expansion a couple of decades ago. Since then they've made mediocre and utterly forgettable games, while Randy told the press and fans lie after lie with zero shame.
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Randy lying about the genesis of the Gearbox name is profoundly strange. It's a pity Joystiq didn't pursue the matter further and just left it at "Randy said he'd get back to us."
 
H

HiddenWings

Member
Zaph said:
Seems like a perfect example of someone figuring it's better to beg for forgiveness, than ask permission.

3DR probably figured once the game was public and fans were expecting it, it would force Gearbox to play nice rather than look like the bad guy.

Reading the lawsuit filing, this wouldn't be the first time 3DR tried something so brazen. Apparently they sued Gearbox for DNF royalties and quickly rescinded the lawsuit and publicly apologised.

Sounds like 3DR is run by complete fuckups.
Click to expand...

Duke Nukem Forever's entire development wasn't a clue?
 
B

Big_Al

Unconfirmed Member
I'm surprised at this part in the legal submission:

On February 1, 2014, Interceptor announced that it would be releasing its own version of a Duke Nukem game entitled “Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction.” This infringement of Gearbox’s intellectual property rights was announced online, with a stated release date of February 25, 2014.
1
According to Interceptor’s proclamations, the project has been in development since September, 2013.
2
It appears that Interceptor has even created a Facebook page for “Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction.” These announcements are attached to the Complaint, collectively, as Exhibit B.
Click to expand...


Now were they actually planning on doing a surprise release next Tuesday or was it supposed to be just more details ? Seems kind of out of nowhere.
 
J

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
Big_Al said:
I'm surprised at this part in the legal submission:




Now were they actually planning on doing a surprise release next Tuesday or was it supposed to be just more details ? Seems kind of out of nowhere.
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I'd wager the assumption of a release was misunderstanding on the part of whoever drew up the document. There's no way the game would be complete after just five months.
 
styl3s

styl3s

Member
Why do people keep associating DNF to Gearbox like they made it? they had nothing to do with the development of that piece of shit other then maybe some polishing at the very end. And Aliens? Outsourced.

2 Games they really had nothing to do with in terms of actual development doesn't erase Brothers In Arms or Borderlands.
 
B

Big_Al

Unconfirmed Member
JaseC said:
I'd wager the assumption of a release was misunderstanding on the part of whoever drew up the document. There's no way the game would be complete after just five months.
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Yeah I agree I didn't think it would be a release at all. Unless it turned out to be a more polished version of Reloaded set out there to the world for release (a man can dream! :p )


styl3s said:
Why do people keep associating DNF to Gearbox like they made it? they had nothing to do with the development of that piece of shit other then maybe some polishing at the very end. And Aliens? Outsourced.

2 Games they really had nothing to do with in terms of actual development doesn't erase Brothers In Arms or Borderlands.
Click to expand...


Problem is that snake oil salesman mother fucker Randy Pitchford acted like it was actually Gearbox developing the game.

"Oh we care soooooo much about the IP."
"It's a dream project for us"

He fooled a lot of people and he found out very quickly that your customers don't like to fooled and taken for a fuckin ride. Sure we know many companies outsource parts of their projects to other companies but Sega gave Gearbox money for THEM to make the game. Looking at Gearbox's history they were expecting some sort of quality but instead Gearbox go "Nope fuck that, use the money elsewhere, let's get Borderlands 2 out the door"

I do genuinely feel sorry for a lot of the team itself but I have no sympathy for Pitchford for the amount of shit he got, he deserves every bit of it.
 
J

Jedi2016

Member
styl3s said:
And Aliens? Outsourced.
Click to expand...
That's exactly the problem we have with Gearbox. It's not that they developed it poorly, it's that they didn't develop it at all. In interviews and previews, they showed us and told us exactly what we wanted to hear, and all the while they were planning on throwing shovelware at us under the assumption that us stupid Aliens fans would happily buy whatever they gave us regardless of quality and be grateful to have it. And to this day, they still haven't acknowledged any of it. They've soured us on the whole franchise, to the point where most of us are extremely skeptical about the upcoming Alien: Isolation, because it sounds like the same "everything we want to hear" bullshit that Gearbox gave us before. I won't be buying the game at all until I hear actual user reviews from here, and even if the game ends up good, their first-week sales will probably be dismal until word of mouth gets around that the game's actually worth it. Gearbox fucked up so hard that other developers are paying the price.
 
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